Adam's bass playing

[marik]

i don't really know much about bass playing style, skill, technique, what is frowned upon, what is respected, what bass lines are easy, what are really hard,

so if there's any bass players out there that want to inform me, specifically with adam, and how he's progressed over his career, referencing certain songs and such, i would greatly appricate it.

i just want to be able to appricate what adam does more!

 

[beezd26]

Wow this is a very broad question. I think if you asked five different bass players each one would give you a different answer.

I'm a self taught player and I've learned a lot by watching dvd's of live performances whether it be of U2 or other bands. Plus I go and see a lot of live music and I watch different bass players play.

People will always tell you there is a text book way to do something but when in reality there are many ways to do the same thing. When I first started playing I didn't have a clue what I was doing but I just fumbled around on the bass until I found what worked for me. I tend to play more with a pick than with my fingers. Adam uses a combination of both.

In the earlier days Adam was a mad man on bass. You will catch him using a pick more on earlier albums. He also had an affinity for bass chords. Some people find playing with a pick to be much easier than playing with their fingers, especially when starting out. I know I did. If you want to play with a pick I would recommend using a heavy weight pick to start with.

As of what is respected and frowned upon, that will vary with the type of music.

I have to say the thing that I appreciate about Adam's playing is the balance of simple bass lines and complex bass lines. You have songs like Gloria with a bass solo in it and then you have songs like With or Without You that have a very simple yet effective bass line. Then you consider how the bass line works within a song. U2 does some genious stuff. A good example would be Pride in the chorus. Edge stays on the same chord while Adam changes notes on the bass. A lot of people get in the trap of having the bass and guitar play the same notes or change notes at the same times. But sometimes its more effective if one instrament changes and the other stays on the same note.

Ok well I could write you a book on all this stuff. Those are just some general things and basically what came off of my head right now. If you have more specific questions I think that would help. My best advice though is to watch videos and other bass players play. You will learn a lot about technique that way.

 

[marik]

i suppose i was wondering about...

- fingers vs. picks vs. slapping - picks are easier you say. is hand slapping only for a specific type of music? does adam now use fingers ALL the time, even for those songs that he used to use picks for back in the day?

- which are some of Adam's hardest basslines to play?

- easiest? wowy....

- what songs are the bass lines the same as the guitar chords? this is frowned upon as being the easy way to write a song, isn't it?

- did adam's skill and complexity vastly improve over a specific era of the band? when was the biggest improvment? i know he took bass lessons around the time of Pop. back in the early days, would he have been thought of as a 'not very good player'? (folklore says he knew nothing during initial band meetings)

thanks in advance!

 

[jkid]

You guys seem very knowledgeable on this subject so, I have a few questions of my own.

Does Adam use any other basses besides his Fenders and that custom yellow bass for "Popmart" tour?

Does he use any bass effect pedals?

What type of amp does he use?

Thanks a lot.

 

[beezd26]

- fingers vs. picks vs. slapping - picks are easier you say. is hand slapping only for a specific type of music? does adam now use fingers ALL the time, even for those songs that he used to use picks for back in the day?

You can use slap in anytype of music. Just depends on the sound you want to get. Adam does not use his fingers all the time today. On this new tour you'll catch Adam still using a pick. I can't think of any songs off hand right now that he's using one on. As you get more into bass you can start to hear when a person is using a pick on bass because of how it sounds.

- which are some of Adam's hardest basslines to play? easiest?

Every bass player will have a different answer on this one. Some bass lines are easy for people to play and other ones are harder. I don't play a lot of U2 songs on bass so I wouldn't be able to answer this question well. But too easy one's would definately be wowy and desire.

- what songs are the bass lines the same as the guitar chords? this is frowned upon as being the easy way to write a song, isn't it?

Again I don't play a lot of U2 songs so I haven't necessarily studied the chord v bass line. Usually if you listen to a song you can hear whats going on. You can hear the bass changes and the guitar changes. You keep usuing the word frowned upon, nothing is ever frowned upon because not all bass players i guess you could say 'believe' in the same thing. Unless you have horrible rhythm then that might be a problem.

- did adam's skill and complexity vastly improve over a specific era of the band? when was the biggest improvment? i know he took bass lessons around the time of Pop. back in the early days, would he have been thought of as a 'not very good player'? (folklore says he knew nothing during initial band meetings)

You know that's actually a hard question because I think all of Adam's stuff is great. I think the reason why is he always has played to his ability. His bass lines work for him. So its very hard to pinpoint a time where Adam got "better." I think Adam was never thought of as a bad player, he just was never labled a phenomenal player.

 

[beezd26]

-Does Adam use any other basses besides his Fenders and that custom yellow bass for "Popmart" tour?

Adam has used several different kinds of basses other than Fenders which seem to always be his stock bass. In the early days like Red Rocks Adam used an Ibanez. Then on the Elevation Tour and maybe this tour Adam has used Lakeland basses. If you want to play a great bass I would highly recomend a Lakeland. In the studio Adam seems to enjoy usuing his Les Paul recording bass, this one can be seen in the box set dvd.

-Does he use any bass effect pedals?

Now I'm not quite sure on this one but I would assume he would use chorus and compression. Those two pedals most bass players usually use. I know like on New Year's Day Adam definately uses chorus.

-What type of amp does he use?

Adam is a fan of ashdown amps. If you pick up a bass player magazine you'll sometime catch Adam in an ashdown ad.
Ashdown just recently custom made some speakers for Adam's setup.

 

[JOFO]

beezd26-

good posts.

I agree with most of what you say.

one thing: I'd actually say that wowy, while being only 4 notes, is actually tough to play discipline-wise, because you have to do the same thing for 4 and a half minutes and that's tough to do.

 

[thrillme]

I don't actually play bass, but I saw this thread being related to another so I took a look anyway.

I'm basing these on what I've seen, plus a few guesses on those not played live.

Vertigo --pick
Miracle Drug--pick
Sometimes--fingers
Love and Peace--fingers
City--pick
All Because of you--pick
A Man & a woman--?? fingers
Crumbs--?? fingers
One step closer,?? fingers
Original, ?? fingers
Yahweh ?? fingers
Fast Cars ?? fingers


Beautiful Day--fingers.
Stuck-fingers, (though a few notes he strums with his thumb)
Elevation--fingers
Walk on--fingers ?? (I don't remember have to go check Boston DVD)
Kite--fingers
New York--fingers

Gone, Please and Mofo are fingers.

Oh and "An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart" off the first album Boy, is fingers. I have seen Adam play "I Will Follow" with his fingers, but usually he plays it with a pick.

Any other albums I don't remember, have to go look, if you really want to know the details, check out the live videos, that's how I know.

(I'm a girl, so it's really easy to pay close attention to him )